How to Create a First Aid Kit for Your Pet –
Free Pet Prep Downloads

Pet emergencies are critical health crises
that need immediate medical intervention. Having a pet first aid kit handy is
recommended for all people who own pets -- it may very well buy your pet
critical time until veterinary care can be sought. Many of the supplies you
will be using to create your pet first aid kit will also be handy in case of
human first aid needs.

What Should Your Emergency
First Aid Kit Contain?
You can purchase pet first aid kits or make one yourself. A plastic tote is
good for storing your kit. It is advised that you make not one but two kits:
one that will be in your house and one you can keep in your car.

Your Kit Should Include:

Batteries

A
Flashlight

Cotton
balls and swabs

Scissors

Tweezers

Sterile
gauze pads and bandages

First aid
tape

Antibacterial
ointment

Hydrogen
peroxide

Rubbing
alcohol

Antiseptic
wipes

A muzzle

A leash

A splint

Styptic
powder to stop bleeding

Pepto
bismol

Prescription
medications (for you and your pets)

Sterile
latex gloves

Eye wash

A book on
human and pet first aid

Mineral
oil

Buffered
aspirin

Benadryl

A blanket

A large
bottle of water

Self-activating
hot pack

Self-activating
ice pack

Hydrocortisone
cream

Copies of
veterinary documents

Thermometer

Whenever possible, a cell phone with service
that can reach 911 in case of emergencies with the phone number of the nearest
emergency vet programmed is a great addition to your emergency
first aid kit. Check your
batteries periodically to make sure that they are ready to go when you need
them in an emergency.

Giving First Aid to Pets
Now that you've created your kit, what will you do with these supplies in case
of an emergency? Some pet hospitals offer courses
in pet first aid, as do many
branches of the Red Cross.

Courses are usually fairly inexpensive and are
typically only one or two days long. Many courses will include a pet first aid
book -- if yours does, keep it with your first aid kit.

Just as your pet first aid kit will contain many items which are valuable in
human medical emergencies, many of the topics covered in a pet first aid class
will mirror those taught in a human first aid class, like performing CPR,
helping an animal who is choking, recognizing and responding to signs of shock,
cleaning and bandaging wounds, splinting, assessing vital signs, and insect and
snake bites.

Prepared And Knowledgeable Saves
Lives
The time and expense invested in creating a first aid kit and learning how to
use it effectively in medical emergencies can very well save the life of a
loved one, two or four-legged. You do not need to create separate first aid
kits for the pets and people, although separate first aid training is advocated
for human and pet first aid emergencies. Recertification is critical and
recommended at least every two years. Get certified in pet first aid and create
your emergency
first aid kit today. Your
family will thank you for it!

How to Make Homemade Hard Apple Cider

Brewing
hard cider from nonalcoholic (sweet) cider is a simple process, and because you
can alter several parts of the process to fit your preferences, the inebriating
end product is especially delicious. Follow these steps to make hard cider of
your own.

Welcome to the Homebrew Helper's Hard Cider web site!
This site was created to help you with your first adventures in hard cider
making, even if you have never brewed any wine or beer before. I was first
bitten by the cider-bug after I had been pressing and putting up my own wine
for 40 or so gallons. My sister had returned from college at Oxford, and was
missing the fantastic hard ciders you can find with ease all over the UK. I
read over dozens of brew sites and blogs, and then I took the plunge with a few
gallons of sweet cider from the health
food store. Wine makers are often intimidated by carbonation--and
stories of exploding bottle bombs, so I was surprised and delighted at how easy
(and quick) making hard cider is.

I’ve written about how I’ve
switched to using PRI-G over Stabil a while back and probably have a previous
video or two about it but for those who are new here, the following video is
about using PRI-G to stabilizer your long-term gasoline storage. I think it’s a
better product that works better and is…

We all want to keep our kids safe and without a doubt the
best way to do that is to teach them proper firearms handling techniques and,
of course, to respect them. Here’s what SensiblePrepper has to say about it……

EPA goes paramilitary as it conducts armed raids with
‘POLICE’ jackets, checking for water quality

‘In what is another example of gross regulatory abuse, a
squad of Alaska enviro-agents wearing POLICE-emblazoned body armor and dressed in paramilitary garb recently “raided”
a small community for the purpose of – wait for it – checking the quality of
water.

According to the Alaska Dispatch newspaper, which
reported on the incident Sept. 3, “agents with the Alaska Environmental Crimes
Task Force surged out of the wilderness around the remote community of Chicken
wearing body armor” and jackets, leaving residents stunned, confused and most likely
a little ticked off.

The Next Event: Destruction on a Massive Scale

To
the untrained eye, it would appear that the masses are waking up. People are
becoming more informed. Local news stations are talking more about what used to
be called “conspiracy theories”. Our opposition to further war in the Middle
East has been noted and a crisis in Syria has been temporarily averted. The United
States public seems to have achieved a small victory, right?

To
the trained eye, this is called diminishing returns. The old tactics used to
deceive and manipulate the emotions of the public have become less effective
over time. Does this mean that we are winning the fight, or that something more
sinister is on the way?More at:

It's a good news/bad news
situation. The good news is that a pair of studies show that more people are
concerned about digital security, and are taking steps to keep themselves safe
online. The bad news is that they don't believe things will get better any time
soon. And there's worse news.

The
Good News
According to a report released yesterday by the Pew Research foundation, 86 percent of Internet
users "have taken steps online to remove or mask their digital
footprints—ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email." Though that last
point has been rendered moot, it's heartening to see
that a large percentage of people are not only concerned about their privacy
but being proactive about it.

These results seem to match
those found in another study by security company AVG
Technologies.
They found that 88 percent of nearly 5,000 respondents across several countries
were not happy about providing personal information in return for a
service—which is basically the model on which several popular mobile apps and
web-based services work.

Best of all, 72 percent of
people told AVG that they had stopped an application from downloading because it had asked for access
to personal information. In a press release, AVG said this indicates "a
strong sense of unease at the amount of personal data consumers are being asked
to forfeit."

Both of these studies
refute the belief that consumers aren't paying enough attention to app
permissions, and security in general. Rather, they show that modern consumers
(you, gentle readers) are educated about the risks and are looking for
solutions.

The
Bad News
Unfortunately, there's a big downside to both studies. Along with increased
consumer concern about privacy, Pew found that many of those surveyed had a
negative experience from the exploitation of their personal information. This
ranged from having an online account compromised (21 percent) to stalking or
harassment (12 percent) to being placed in physical danger (4 percent).
Pew doesn't directly make the connection, but it's possible that people are
concerned because they, or someone they know, have been hurt.

Likewise, AVG found a
rising sense of cynicism among respondents. 72 percent told AVG that they felt
technology would become more helpful in the future, but 69 percent also felt
that it would become more invasive. Relatedly, the study found that 46 percent had "increased concerns
about their privacy and a higher distrust of companies and their ability to
protection individual's personal data."

It
Gets Worse
There's a number of ways to interpret the data from these two studies, but it's
hard to ignore a sense of helplessness that hangs over the responses. People,
it seems, are worried about their privacy and want to do something about it,
but they don't seem to think it's really possible.

"Users clearly want
the option of being anonymous online and increasingly worry that this is not
possible," said Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center's Internet
Project in a press release. "Their concerns apply to an entire ecosystem of surveillance. In fact,
they are more intent on trying to mask their personal information from hackers,
advertisers, friends and family members than they are trying to avoid
observation by the government."

It's those advertisers that have
helped pay
for the app revolution on smartphones—an issue we've touched on before. Though
AVG's research suggest that is changing, users may not even be aware that
the apps they download are harvesting their data.

The creeping intrusiveness
of technology irked Judith Bitterli, Senior Vice President of Marketing at AVG,
as well. "This is certainly not the original vision of those who created
the Internet and with particular concerns being raised about data sharing;
there is a clear question over just how long consumers will be willing to put
up with the current status quo."

With wearable, always-on computing technology becoming
increasingly popular, the conflict between privacy and the information economy
may be coming to a head.

Much of what the Poor Man
does is to promote the concepts of self-reliance, a voluntary society and economic independence --
writing articles, giving talks, maintaining blogs and an educational website --
he does for free. Donations made to support him in these efforts are much
appreciated.